Childproof safety container and closure



y 20, 1969 F. A. CILLUFFO 3,445,022

CHILDPROOF SAFETY CONTAINER AND CLOSURE Filed Dec. 21, 1967 Sheet of 2INVENTOR. Frank A. Cilluffo ATTORNEY y 1969 F. A. CILLUFFO 3,445,022

CHILDPROOF SAFETY CONTAINER AND CLOSURE Filed Dec. 21, 1967 Sheet FIG.6

INVENTOR.

United States Patent 3,445,022 CHILDPROOF SAFETY CONTAINER AND CLOSUREFrank A. Cillutfo, 283 Haverstraw Road, Sulfern, N.Y. 10901 Filed Dec.21, 1967, Ser. No. 692,397 Int. Cl. B65d 55/02, 41/06 US. Cl. 215-9 10Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A slot in the cap separates the lowerend of the cap thread along a predetermined length of its terminal sothat portion of the cap thread is supported as a cantilever from the capbody. The cap material is rigid, but the cantilever construction, at thelower end of the thread, provides suflicient flexibility to permit thatcantilever to be moved the short distance needed to enable thecantilever teeth to clear the detents on the neck or spout. For theconstruction shown and covered herein, a clearance shift of 0.020 inchhas been found adequate.

This invention relates to a safety bottle and cap combination to providea safety cap closure that cannot readily be removed by a child. Theproblem of providing a bottle and cap closure that cannot be readilyopened by a child has been a long continuing one. The need has long beenrecognized of providing some sort of protection to prevent children fromopening bottles or containers that normally have contents that areharmful or dangerous to health. Many proposed solutions to that problemhave not been adopted, either because of their lack of simplicity orbecause they have been uneconomical.

The object of this invention is to provide a cap closure that is bothsimple in construction and economical.

Another object of this invention is to provide a closure cap that isrelatively simple in construction, and that may be operated with aslightly sophisticated operation, whose nature would be readily apparentto an adult, but not yet understandable to a child.

In the present invention, the usual spiral thread, on the neck or spoutof a container, is provided with a short stretch of ratchet teeth on ashort length of the surface of the lower terminal portion of the thread,to serve as detents. Correspondingly, the lowermostterminal portion ofthe thread on the cap, on the internal surface of the cap, is providedwith similar ratchet teeth that will engage those on the neck threadwhen the cap is in its full closed position. To release the cap forremoval, the cap teeth must be moved to clear the detent teeth on theneck of the container. In order to permit the cap thread ratchet teethto be so raised from the detent teeth on the neck of the container, thelowermost terminal portion of the internal thread of the cap is formedfree from the body of the cap by a short slot, which thus renders thatlowermost portion of the thread on the cap a cantilever structure. Thecap material is preferably such that the body of the cap is relativelyrigid. Similarly, then, the cantilever material is also such as to berelatively rigid. However, the cantilever construction provides a smallamount of resiliency at the cantilever support region, where thecantilever is joined to the body of the cap. That small amount 3,445,022Patented May 20, 1969 of resiliency is sufficient to permit the free endof the cantilever to be moved or raised a short distance from the detentteeth on the neck of the bottle. This distance has been found to beadequate even when as small as 0.020 inch. Several modifications aredisclosed herein wherein this feature of construction may be provided ona bottle neck and the related cap, to insure against casual andundesired opening of a bottle by a child.

Another difiiculty or problem that is recognized in the art, is thecharacteristic known as back-oil, which is the tendency of a cap whenscrewed onto the helical threads of a bottle of glass or plastic, toresist the application slightly, to the extent of storing some of theapplication energy as internal stress operates in reverse or backwardly,against the application force, to tend to loosen the cap on the threador glass or the plastic bottle. This is the Memory characteristic of thecap material which tends to re-assume an initial undistorted orunstressed condition when the application force is terminated orremoved.

In an effort to overcome that tendency, it has been the practiceconventionally to resort to threads having a small pitch angle, todiminish the stored stress releasing component.

The present invention, which provides for the detent operation inpreventing casual or undesired removal of the cap from the bottle, alsotakes care of that problem by substantially locking the cap in positionagainst any such loosening tendency of the back-off stress.

A further objective of this invention is to overcome that currentdifficulty of back-off tendency, by essentially locking the cap inclosed position, while yet making it possible to unlock the cap by asimple operation for simple easy removal.

The details of construction of the several modifications, and theirmanner of operation and co-operation, are described in the followingspecification and are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, inwhich:

FIGURE 1 is a front view, partially in elevation and partiallyschematic, to show a cap embodying this invention, with a cantileverelement formed at the bottom edge of the cap, and provided with an axialactuator;

FIGURE 2 is a front elevational view of a portion of the neck or spoutof a container, to show ratchet detents formed on the bottom surface ofthe lower terminal end of a spiral thread;

FIGURE 3 is a combination elevational and schematic view, showing thecap of PIGUR E 1 applied on the neck of the container shown in FIGURE 2,with the arrow indicating the operation required to slightly depress theouter end of the cantilever for then releasing the cap for rotation andremoval;

FIGURE 4 is a front schematic view of a cap in which the cantileverelement is provided with an eccentric fulcrumed actuator;

FIGURE 5 is a plan view of the cap in FIGURE 4 and shows the engaged anddisengaged positions of the free end of the cantilever, where the detentand ratchet teeth are engaged or disengaged;

FIGURE 6 is a front elevational and schematic view of a neck of acontainer, showing a spiral thread and a separate transfer bead on theneck for supporting the detent ratchet teeth on the neck, for receivingthe ratchet teeth of the cap to be applied to that neck;

FIGURE 7 is an internal 'view, partially in section and partially inelevation, of the cap to fit on the neck of FIGURE 6, and shows ratchetteeth formed on the bottom edge of the cantilever portion of the cap;

FIGURE 8 is a three-quarter elevational and perspective view of a cap,showing a modified form of cantilever with an external eccentricactuating arm, similar to the 3 construction in FIGURES 4 and 5, exceptthat the cantilever in FIGURE 8 is vertical instead of horizontal;

FIGURE *9 shows an elevational view, with parts broken away to exposethe vertical cantilever, and show the manner in which its teeth engageand disengage the teeth on the lowermost terminal of the spiral threadon the neck of the bottle.

As shown in FIGURES 1, 2 and 3, a cap is provided with the usualcylindrical body, which in some cases may be of truncated conicalconstruction, all of which are provided with a usual internal helicalthread 22, reaching from an upper portion internally of the cap 20 to alowermost portion 24 representing the terminal portion of the thread 22.In accordance with this invention, the terminal portion 24 has on itsupper surface a series of integrally formed ratchet teeth 26. In orderto impart flexibility to the lowermost or terminal portion of the thread24, for purposes to be described below, that portion of the internalthread cap is separated from the body 28 of cap by a slot 30 whichserves to set off the terminal thread portion 24 as a cantilever, havinga free end 32 and being attached to and supported from the body of thecap 20 at the region 34, adjacent to the inner end of slot 30.

In order to utilize the characteristics of a cantilever, and to move thefree end 32 slightly pressing the cantilever end downward, for thepurpose to be described below, a tab or thumb piece 36 is additionallyformed on the outer surface of the cantilever portion 24 of the thread22, in order to provide a surface, on the top of the thumb piece 36, toreceive the thumb pressure of an operator who is removing the cap toopen the bottle. The pressure on that thumb piece 36 operates in thedirection of the arrow 38 shown in FIGURE 3, and serves to move theratchet teeth 26 on the cantilever 24, downward, away from acorresponding set of ratchet teeth or detents 42 formed at the lower endand on the lower surface of a conical thread 44, mounted and generallyformed integrally on the neck 46 of the container, such as a bottle, asshown in FIGURE 2 As shown in FIGURE 1, the ratchet teeth 26 in cap 20are shown formed on the top edge of the helical thread 22 along thelower terminal end of that thread in the cap, and the ratchet teethdetents 42 on the helical thread 44 of the neck of the bottle are shownformed on the bottom edge, near the terminal end of that thread 44, asin FIGURE 2.

-When the cap 20 is normally screwed onto the bottle neck 46 to closethe bottle, the two sets of ratchet teeth engage, and the cap is heldagainst casual displacement, and against casual opening by ordinaryrotating force applied to the outside of the cap.

-In order to open the cap, a sophisticated operation is required, whichinvolves, first, slightly depressing the thumb tab 36 to disengage twosets of ratchet teeth, and

then turning the cap to remove it from the neck of the bottle. The forceand distance of the depressing movement of the cantilever that will berequired to disengage the teeth, can be controlled by the length of theslot 30, according to the resiliency available in the material at theroot of the cantilever due to the inherent resiliency of the material,and according to the cantilever structure of the element supporting thelower thread 26.

In FIGURES 4 and 5, another modification is shown, in which a thumb tab50 is provided to permit the use of a radial pressure in shifting theposition of the cantilever to disengage the cantilever teeth from thoseon the neck of the bottle. In this case, the teeth on the neck of thebottle point radially outward, and the teeth on the cantilever pointradially inwardly and are formed on the inner surface, of the lowermostterminal end of the inner thread on the cap, instead of being formed onthe upper surface as in FIGURE 3.

In this case, in FIGURE 5, the anchored end of the cantilever servessubstantially as a fulcrum abou wh ch the thumb tab may rotate thecantilever, to disengage the teeth on the cap from the detent teeth onthe neck of the container.

In FIGURE 6, still another modification is shown, in which the ratchetteeth detents are formed on the top surface of a transfer head 62 aroundthe bottle neck.

The cap 64 which is to go with this modification is shown in FIGURE 7,and, as there shown, the ratchet teeth 66 on the cap 64 are formed onthe lower edge of a cantilever element 68 to engage the ratchet detentteeth 60 on the transfer head 62 in FIGURE 6. In this case, the thumbtab 70 on the cantilever element 68 is pressed upwardly to disengage thecap teeth 66 from the detent teeth 60 on the bead 62, shown in FIGURE 6.As soon as the teeth are initially disengaged, the cap 64 may be easilyrotated and readily removed from the bottle.

In FIGURES 8 and 9, a further modification is shown in which acantilever element 72 is arranged vertically with respect to the cap,and is provided with a thumb tab 74 which serves to angularly move thelower end of the cantilever 72 to disengage its ratchet teeth 76 from acorresponding set of detents 78 on the lower end of the helical thread80 on the bottle neck shown in FIGURE 9.

By means of the several modifications shown, a cantilever structure isformed which may be provided with a set of teeth at its free end toengage a set of teeth de tents on the neck or spout of a bottle orcontainer, which is to be closed with a cap on which the cantilever isformed as an element of the cap.

By forming the teeth on the cantilever as an element of the cap, theeconomy of a single piece plastic construction is obtained, togetherwith the benefits of the invention of protecting against casual andunwanted displacement and removal by a child. In view of the fact thatthese devices are all throw-aways, the question of economy is always animportant factor in determining their use. In this case the economy of asingle piece cap is retained and the benefits of the invention had atthe same time.

Various modifications may be made in the construction and design on thecap or of the bottle and the cap together, without departing from thespirit and scope of the invention that is defined in the claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A safety container and closure cap combination, to prevent casualremoval of the cap by a child, comprising:

a container provided with a neck or spout having an opening, and havinga spiral thread on the external surface of said neck to receive aninternally threaded n;

an element on said neck having a series of ratchet teeth detentsdisposed along its length;

and a cap to fit over said neck or spout, said cap having a spiralthread on its inner surface to engage and ride on the spiral thread onthe neck to wedge the cap tightly onto the neck to cover and close saidopening;

and an element on said cap having a series of ratchet teeth disposed onsaid cap element for engaging the detents on said neck, in the fullyclosed position of said cap, for holding said cap in fully closedposition against casual or undesired opening.

2. A container and closure cap combination, as in I claim 1, in which:

said element on said neck is integral with a portion of said spiralthread on said neck. 3. A container and closure cap combination, as inclaim 2, in which:

said integral thread element constitutes the bottom terminal portion ofthe neck thread, and the detent teeth are integral on said terminalthread portion. 4. A container and closure cap combination, as, in claim1, in which;

said element on said cap is supported from the body of said cap as acantilever, and serves to press and hold in its ratchet teeth in fulloperative engagement with the detents on the neck in normal full closedposition of the cap.

5. A container and closure cap combination as in claim 4, in which:

said ratchet teeth on said cantilever element of the cap are disposedsubstantially at the free end of said cantilever and spaced from theanchored end of said cantilever, whereby only a small angulardisplacement of said cantilever is sufficient to free the cantileverratchet teeth from the detents on the neck.

6. A container and closure cap combination, as in claim 4, in which:

said cantilever element has a normal internal bias stress to press itsratchet teeth to a position of operative engagement with the detentteeth on said neck of the container.

7. A container and closure combination, as in claim 6, in which saidcantilever embodies a surface element operative in response to thumbpressure for overcoming said internal bias and for moving the teeth, andthe detents to disengaged position to permit free unimpeded slot ofsuficient width to permit a transverse pressure force to be applied tothe free end of said cantilever to cause disengagement of the cantileverteeth from the detents on said neck.

9. A container and closure cap combination, as in claim 7, in which:

said surface element consists of a backwardly extending lug which may bedepressed to raise the free end of the cantilever about its anchored endas a fulcrum, to disengage the cantilever teeth from the detents on theneck.

10. A safety cap consisting of a hollow cylinder closed at the top andopen at the bottom to fit over a threaded neck or spout, and having aninternal spiral thread to fit the thread of said neck, with the portionof the cap that supports the lowermost terminal portion of the capthread slotted away from the body of the cap to provide a cantileverportion;

and a series of ratchet teeth formed on and along a portion of saidcantilever.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS GEORGE T. HALL, Primary Examiner.

U.S. c1. X.R.

